Is Happiness a lack of options?

Time Magazine has up an interesting article on a recent study about happiness. The cusp of the story is that people are HORRIBLE at predicting what will make them happy, and that happier people are those who do not dwell upon the "what-ifs" of what could have been.

Envisioning what life would have been like with an alternate spouse becomes difficult and increasingly irrelevant as you settle into the life you've selected. "Once you make a choice in life, the unchosen alternatives evaporate," he says. According to Gilbert's earlier research, which he featured in his 2006 book, Stumbling on Happiness, when faced with an irrevocable decision, people are happier with the outcome than when they have the opportunity to change their minds. "It's a very powerful phenomenon," he says. "This is really the difference between dating and marriage."

I have a number of friends who are against the concept of "dating" because they feel it encourages lack of commitment. They prefer "courting" where you only "date" one person at a time, and only begin if you believe the process will end in marriage. This study may be an argument in their favor.